Alpha: Christmas Alpha Part 6

How long had she known this man? It seemed more like a lifetime than just hours.

He was just so much larger than life, so...imposing, it was impossible for her not to be aware of him. To want him.

Minutes ago her nipples had ached, and between her thighs had felt hot and slick again with the need to have Finn touch her.

He had certainly thrown a bucket of ice-cold water on that need.

Eva wasn't a prude by any means, and she had cared about the two men she had slept with, but she drew the line at being any man's 'f.u.c.k to pa.s.s the time away during a blizzard'!

It was b.l.o.o.d.y insulting- Eva froze as all the lights in the house went out.

Chapter 8.

"What happened?" Eva didn't dare to move, could only continue to stand frozen partway up the stairs, having absolutely no sense of her bearings, without the lights to see by, in this unfamiliar house.

"I would have thought that was perfectly obvious," Finn muttered distractedly.

"Do you think it's because of the storm?"

Finn certainly hoped it wasn't anything more sinister than that. The problem was he didn't know. Not for certain. Not until he'd had a chance to check the fuse box, and if necessary, call the electric company.

If it was a power outage then all was well and good.

But if it was something else...

He frowned grimly as he thought of the footprints he had seen outside earlier, and the fact that Moira knew where he was. "Wait here while I go and get the flashlight from the kitchen."

"I'm coming with you!" Eva reached out to grab hold of him. "Oops! Sorry." She quickly released him as she realized exactly where she had grabbed him.

"You certainly choose your moments, Miss Shaw." Finn was deliberately flippant; there was still no point in alarming Eva until, or unless, he absolutely had to. And he was hoping he wouldn't have to.

"It was an accident," Eva defended indignantly.

"Of course it was."

She gave an audible sigh of impatience. "Could you just get over yourself long enough for us to do something about this situation?"

"Such as one of us going downstairs for a flashlight?"

"Ha ha, you are such a comedian!"

"I aim to please." Complete silence followed this last, even more flippant remark, and without visibility to aid him, Finn had absolutely no idea what Eva was thinking or feeling at that moment. "Eva...?" he finally prompted sharply.

"It's so quiet when everything electrical just all goes off at once," she spoke in hushed tones. "Spooky."

Just what Finn needed to hear, when he still had no idea if this was a general power cut or if someone, Moira, had somehow physically turned the power off.

It all seemed a bit coincidental after Eva's claim of having seen someone outside, along with those footprints Finn had seen in the snow, confirming that someone was watching the two of them.

He really wished he'd heard back from Lucien about when or if he could get some of his security people out here; he wasn't worried for himself, but it really wasn't fair for Eva to be dragged into the mess his life had become because of his stalker ex-girlfriend.

"The blanket of snow outside just adds to the eeriness," Eva spoke softly again into that black silence.

Finn gave a disgusted snort. "I bet you were one of those kids who liked to hear ghost stories before bedtime, and then spent the rest of the night listening for strange noises, with your head under the bed sheets, too afraid to sleep."

She gave a husky chuckle. "Strangely enough..."

Finn's eyesight had now adjusted a little to the sudden blackness, and he could see shadowy outlines with the help of the light from the reflection of the moon upon the snow outside. "As both of us appear to be going down to the kitchen for the flashlight, it would probably be a good idea for you to take my hand."

Eva accepted it was the sensible thing to do as she fumbled about in the dark for a hold on Finn's much larger hand.

It also felt strangely intimate as his much longer, much warmer fingers curled about hers so that he could help her to navigate back down the stairs. More so, in some ways, than what had happened between them in the studio earlier. A connection, flesh against flesh, that while not in the least s.e.xual, nevertheless possessed an unsettling intensity of feeling.

"I hope you thanked your friend for me too?" Eva murmured half an hour later as the two of them once again sat at the kitchen table drinking steaming mugs of tea.

Finn had lit some of the candles he had found in the cupboard under the sink before checking the fuse-box and then telephoning the electric company once he found that everything there was still working. A recorded message had informed him that this whole area was affected, and power would be resumed as soon as possible. After which he had telephoned Lucien again.

According to the other man it was quite usual to have power outages in this area, even without the snow, and so the other man had brought in a generator not long after he bought the house. Big enough that it could keep the rooms on the ground floor of the house, as well as the alarm system, powered and running. With the help of the wood-burning stove, and the fire in the sitting room, the two of them could at least keep warm and prepare hot food and drinks.

The news wasn't so positive on the arrival of Lucien's security guys; the snow really had blanketed the whole of the country and was causing chaos everywhere. Most of the roads were now impa.s.sable. Lucien was looking to get a couple of his men to Wales in a helicopter, but for the moment not much was getting off the ground except for emergency vehicles.

Just to complicate matters, Finn and Eva would now need to sleep in the same room tonight. In fact the two of them had already brought the duvets and pillows down from upstairs and placed them in front of the fire in the sitting room before coming back to the kitchen to drink the tea.

There was no way Eva would have agreed to those sleeping arrangements without the power outage, not after Finn's deliberate crudeness earlier.

Finn's uneasiness, regarding whom Eva might have seen, and who had made those footprints in the snow, had only increased when the power went off so suddenly, and he now believed it was imperative that he and Eva stayed together.

He shrugged in answer to Eva's comment. "I very much doubt Lucien would have appreciated your thanks even if I had pa.s.sed them on."

She eyed him curiously. "Why on earth not?"

"He's funny that way."

"You have strange friends."

Lucien was the least of it.

And Moira was the worst of it...

That she had managed to track him down here, by sending that parcel to Jack, and then pretending to be someone else on the telephone in order to find out his address, would seem to indicate she had gone completely stalker on him.

And if that had been Moira outside earlier, then where was she now?

She would need somewhere to shelter from the storm overnight, and the only place that Finn could think of close by was the empty stable at the back of the house. It might be worth him taking a look in there once Eva was asleep.

Once Eva was asleep...

Lying beside her all night was going to be a test for his self-control.

"You seem distracted, Finn."

He brought his attention back to the here and now as he focused on Eva sitting across the table from him. "Sure, and it isn't everyday I find myself stranded in a snowstorm with such a desirable woman."

She narrowed her eyes. "I thought we had already established that I'm not letting you 'f.u.c.k' me?"

Finn smiled ruefully. "Doesn't change the fact that you're desirable."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Finn Devlin."

"Then maybe you should try and distract me by telling me a little more about yourself?" he answered smoothly. Eva was a desirable woman, no doubt about it. And the two of them were stuck here together until the worst of the storm blew itself out. He just wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Do you have any other family besides your parents and the uncle who owns the courier company?"

"Grandparents. Uncles and aunts. Dozens of cousins," she dismissed ruefully. "Usually we all descend on my maternal grandparents for Christmas Day." She looked glum.

"We'll get you out of here before then." Finn reached across the table and clasped her hand in his as it rested on the tabletop.

There was that connection again, Eva realized with a puzzled frown. That feeling of intimacy as Finn's fingers closed about her own. Again there was nothing s.e.xual about it, it was more...warm, and somehow comforting, and yet at the same time she was still totally aware of everything about him.

Finn just was.

Tall, imposing, there.

In your face there.

Eva couldn't think of any other way to describe what it was like to be with a man who was so compelling.

Did Finn feel that connection too?

A glance beneath her lashes showed that Finn was staring down at their linked hands, a frown between those deep blue eyes.

Yes, Finn felt it too.

Then what had that all been about earlier, when he had spoken so crudely of 'f.u.c.king' her? Had he been intentionally pus.h.i.+ng her away?

And if so, why had he?

Admittedly they lived very different lives, and ordinarily would never have met at all-he was Finn Devlin, photographer extraordinaire, and she was a history student working during the Christmas holidays as a courier-but... "What's going on, Finn?" she prompted slowly. "What is it you aren't telling me?"

That frown deepened into a scowl. "Isn't the fact that we're stuck here in the middle of nowhere in a countrywide blizzard, with no electricity, enough for us to worry about?"

Too slick. Too mocking. Just too everything, in fact.

Eva gave a shake of her head. "You can cut the act, Finn, because I'm not buying it."

He released her hand before leaning back in his chair to look across at her, a mocking smile tilting his lips. "Just as well, because I'm not for sale."

Nope, still not buying it. "Do me a favor, would you, Finn, and stand up?"

He tensed warily. "Why?"

"Because I asked nicely?"

"I don't see-"

"Please. Ah, just as I thought," she nodded knowingly as he rose noisily to his feet and she could once again see that telling bulge in his denims. "Care to explain why it is you're deliberately keeping me at arm's length, Finn, when it's obviously the last thing you want to do?" She raised questioning eyebrows.

"I don't think it's my arm you need to worry about."

"Stop it, Finn," Eva snapped her irritation.

"Maybe I'm acting this way because we've known each other a matter of hours?" he bit out exasperatedly as he sat down again. "Because I agree with you, it wouldn't be a good idea for us to take this any further?"

"That didn't seem to bother you earlier."

Finn scowled darkly. "I stopped, didn't I?"

"Eventually, yes. But most men wouldn't have done that."

"Are you complaining?"

"I'm questioning why, if you feel like...that," she nodded in the direction of his groin. "You set out to annoy me earlier by being deliberately crude."

"Maybe I'm just into self-denial?"

"And maybe I'll threaten to cook you breakfast tomorrow morning if you don't stop lying to me."

There was absolutely no way Finn could stop himself from grinning at that comment; the pizza tonight really had been pretty awful. "Anything but that!"

"Well?"

Finn sighed his frustration; this woman really was the most stubborn, pig-headed- But, d.a.m.n it, if Moira really had followed that parcel here, then Eva deserved to know the truth. Remembering what Moira had done to the woman in the restaurant just because she was with him, Eva could be in as much, if not more, danger than he was.

His hands clenched into fists at the idea of Moira being anywhere near Eva.

He gave a shake of his head. "The parcel you delivered earlier today was from Jack, my agent."

She nodded. "I told you it said Jack Miller on the return address label."

"Because he's been forwarding my mail on to me here for the past four months." Finn nodded.

"Go on," Eva invited softly.

He couldn't look at her any longer. "I was involved with someone a while back."